REVIEW – A few years ago, my wife switched to a pure iPad setup rather than using a MacBook Air. This has been working great for her. But I noticed a few times she would watch videos (online puppy training recently) on her 11″ iPad Pro screen. With the improvements in iPad/OS Stage Manager, I thought she would enjoy the ability to connect her iPad to a bigger screen. I also have a Steam Deck that I play around with occasionally. I wondered if the ARZOPA M1RC Gaming Monitor would perfectly fit without unplugging existing connections from my main computer setup.
What is it?
The ARZOPA M1RC monitor is a 27″ 2K QHD 180Hz gaming monitor. It supports 1ms response time, and adaptive sync with multiple connection options (1-HDMI, 1-USB-C, 1- DP).
What’s included?
- ARZOPA M1RC 27″ Monitor
- Power cable
- DP cable
- Base & Stand
- User Manual
Tech specs
Click to expand
-
- Screen Size:27″
- Panel Type: FAST-IPS LCD Panel
- Screen Ratio: 16:9
- Brightness: 300 cd/m2
- Contrast Ratio: 1000:1
- Color Gamut: 78% NTSC, 110% sRGB, 82% DCI-P3
- Refresh Rate [MAX]: HDMI @ 144Hz, USB-C/DP @ 180Hz
- Maximum Resolution: 2560 x 1440P (QHD)
- Display Color: 16.7M (8-Bit)
- Backlight Type: LED
- HDR Type Supported: HDR 10
- Power Consumption: 45W
- Connections: Power, DP 1.4, USB-C, HDMI 2.0, Audio Port 3.5mm
- VESA: 100mm
Design and features
The ARZOPA M1RC Gaming Monitor is a new offering from ARZOPA. They have a strong presence in the portable monitor space with many options, varying from 14″ to 17″. This is their first large monitor coming in at 27″. It supports a max resolution of 2560 x 1440P (QHD or 2K). I also have an LG 32″ 4K monitor that I use for work and photo editing, and I find that the 4K settings sometimes makes it harder to read text. I think 2K or 1440P is a good balance, offering enough screen space and legibility.
The ARZOPA M1RC Gaming Monitor came with a DP cable. I found this an interesting choice as it represents the least used type of connection. I would expect HDMI to be the most common and USB-C in the next position. As it is, I did not have a DP connection for my Apple ecosystem. I grabbed an extra HDMI cable plugged it into my MacBook Pro and the monitor auto-detected the current input source. After looking into the settings on the laptop, I found the highest refresh rate available was 144Hz. Puzzled, I did a little research and found out that with HDMI, 144Hz is the highest rate that’s possible. I then plugged in a USB-C to USB-C cable but nothing happened. I could see on my device that it was receiving power, but the monitor indicated no source and went into power-saving mode. Not one to give up so easily, I found two more USB-C cables. Luckily, the second one I tried worked perfectly. I liked the fact that I could have a single cable plugged into my device for both power and display. The manual, it states that the Monitor uses 45W of power, but when looking at the power settings for my MacBook Pro, I could only see 15W of charging. I’ve encountered issues before with USB-C versus Thunderbolt cables. They both look the same, but the bandwidth and capabilities are very different. I didn’t read anything from ARZOPA that mentioned Thunderbolt at all.
This monitor has a very basic stand with 5º of forward tilt and 15º or rearward tilt. The stand is not height adjustable and it doesn’t swivel either. For a 2K 27″ monitor at this price, I think that’s acceptable. The ARZOPA M1RC Gaming Monitor does have the ability to be mounted to any arm that has VESA 100mm X 100MM.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
Everything came well packed in the box. Assembly was very straight-forward. Snap the stand onto the base, then snap the assembled stand into the back of the monitor.
Performance
The ARZOPA M1RC Gaming Monitor supports one each of three different connections. The HDMI port only supports up to 144Hz, rather than the full 180Hz with the DP and USB-C connections.
I did notice a slight improvement in clarity when using the USB-C connection over the HDMI. Reading through the website, the color gamut is not ideal for professional photo or video editing but should be good for gaming and watching videos.
An interesting note, the Audio port on the back of the monitor is for Audio Out only. According to ARZOPA, this monitor does not include any speakers. I connected an external speaker to the Audio port. When I used the USB-C connection to the iPad, I could not get any sound from the external speaker. It did work with HDMI though. Me, I rarely use the speakers from my monitor as I find them to be lackluster in volume and quality.
What I like about the ARZOPA M1RC Gaming Monitor
- Supports single USB-C connection for both charging (slow) and display
- 3 sides are nearly bezel-less
What needs to be improved?
- Pass through charging via USB-C is not ideal for laptops, barely acceptable for tablets (15W).
- The included DP cable is the least likely connection type. I was not able to utilize it. I had to find my own USB-C and HDMI cables to test.
- The monitor sits low. Using a monitor arm or shelf will be required to be ergonomic.
Final thoughts
Overall, the M1RC Gaming Monitor is a good first product from ARZOPA in the larger monitor space. The cost is budget-friendly, especially when finding it on sale. I think using this monitor to experience big-screen gaming from a Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch is a good choice. The QHD resolution, along with the low latency and adaptive sync should provide enjoyable gameplay at the higher game settings.
For my wife and her iPad, the single USB-C cable just makes everything easier. She can plop down her iPad, plug in the cable, and start using the 27″ screen.
Will this replace my 32″ 4K monitor? No, and it’s not designed to. This is a good alternative for a secondary workstation that allows for full-sized video, considerably better than the 7″ display on a Steam Deck or the 11″ display on the iPad.
Price: $269.99 (currently $189.99 30% savings)
Where to buy: ARZOPA and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by ARZOPA. ARZOPA did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
